Toowoomba’s St Mary’s College to launch Lord of the Flies at Edmund Rice Centre

A top Toowoomba school is set to debut a “savage” production based on one of the most infamous young adult texts of the 20th century. Watch our preview here:

After six months of tireless rehearsals, about two dozen Toowoomba teens will bring William Golding’s classic tale of tribalism, anarchy, morality and violence to life this week.

St Mary’s College will debut its most significant stage production in years when Lord of the Flies debuts at the Edmund Rice Centre on Hill Street from Thursday, in the first of four shows.

Featuring an immersive set that folds the audience into the action and live music accompanying the performances, the cast includes students from all grades tackling the challenge text head-on.

Director and drama department head Eylece Blaikie said she had been blown away by the growth of the boys since rehearsals started in February.

The cast of the St Mary's College's production of Lord of the Flies act out a scene during dress rehearsal ahead of four shows from June 19.

“They come now with ideas about how to play their roles, whereas initially it was like us examining the roles they were playing,” she said.

“Now they’re just really embedded in the characters and that’s really impressed me the most.

“It’s a tale set specifically for boys, and they can learn through this about how to be more tolerant of people.

“They form two camps, and one wants to follow democracy, and the other side just wants anarchy – they’re happy for there not to be any adults and basically they turn to savagery.

“It’s really, really important in today’s culture that we actively listen to each other, we don’t just give lip service to what people are saying.”

Year 11 student Ben Wightman, who plays lead character Ralph, said the experience prepared him well for his aspirations after school.

“I decided to join in because it was sort of the last school production that I knew I’d be able to join, and it is my dream to become an actor and a performer,” he said.

“I’ve made a lot of improvement, especially when it comes to actually reacting to what other people are doing on stage.

“I’ve definitely improved in that aspect because I initially used to be a bit more still, but now I’ve gotten to move a bit around more and my facial expressions have become a lot more powerful I reckon.”

The cast of the St Mary's College's production of Lord of the Flies act out a scene during dress rehearsal ahead of four shows from June 19.

Year 8 student Ted Ford said he had relished the chance to work with older students.

“They’ve all definitely been very friendly to me from the beginning, I’ve definitely made a lot of friends with them as well,” he said.

“They’ve definitely sort of embraced me from the beginning, and they knew that I was sort of a new actor as well so they sort of taught me some things about how to do things, acting and reacting and different things about the play in general as well.”

Lord of the Flies will feature four performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week.

For tickets, head to the website.